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| Gelsons Opera Cake |
I decided on opera cake mainly because I knew my dad loved it. Nearly every time he stopped somewhere to pick up pastries for dessert on a special occasion (usually from Gelsons, which has an awesome bakery), he would have to grab an opera cake as one of the choices.
The rich layers of almond sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup, coffee-flavored buttercream, and chocolate ganache make this a hard-to-resist treat. So, I ventured to create my own from scratch to see if I could rival the deliciousness of Gelson's bakery. And I have to say that I got pretty darn close.
So I started first with the almond sponge cake, otherwise known as Joconde. I ground up an 8oz bag of blanched (or without shell) almonds from Trader Joe's, then whipped up 6 egg whites (separated from the yokes) to stiff peaks, also called meringue. I always love doing this-- it's amazing how ugly pale egg whites can turn into something so fluffy and white just by whipping them!
The next step was to mix the ground almonds with 6 whole eggs, powdered sugar, and some clarified butter. What is clairifed butter, you ask? I had the same question when I got to that part, and had a sudden moment of panic when I thought that I would have to run to the store. However, once I looked it up, I discovered to my relief that it was merely butter that needs to be heated on the stove until the fat rises to the top as a sort of foam. (This is also how ghee is made, if you were wondering). So you scoop off the foam with a spoon and then drain the rest of the liquidy butter through cheesecloth into a bowl, leaving it more flavorful and less dense. Nice little trick, huh?
So once I finally had these all mixed together, I had to then fold in the meringue. Yes, it's a lot of steps-- but so totally worth it! This makes the cake come out light and airy rather than dense, which is also helpful for soaking up the coffee syrup I would be making next. I then spread this batter carefully into two half-sheet pans, baking them for only about 8 minutes at 425 degrees. That has to be the shortest baking time for a cake ever!
The directions emphasized flipping the cakes almost immediately onto parchment paper to let cool before assembling the rest of the cake.
Phew, hardest part is done! Now time for the toppings that would go in between the cake layers. First was a coffee syrup, which called for instant coffee powder and hot water. But I knew my dad; the better quality the ingredients, the better the final product. So I opted to use espresso instead, making it with his machine.
I also used some of that espresso to make a French buttercream that would be going in between the layers. Ohhh so delicious. I'm going to be using espresso in my frostings more often, that's for sure...
And lastly was the chocolate ganache component, which is simply melted chocolate mixed in with heavy cream. The simple, yet essential, layer.
Phew, now that I had all my different parts ready to go, it was time to put it all together! First I had to measure the two cakes (so that they were equal), slicing off the unequal sides so that it looked perfectly rectangular. I then sliced each one in half, so that I had four separate cakes.
Next, I put one of those cakes onto my cake display platform and began to brush it with the espresso syrup, which would soak into the cake and keep it moist.
After that was a layer of the espresso buttercream, and then a repeat with the next cake layer. Right before the third cake was added, however, I spread a layer of the chocolate ganache so that it would be right in the middle of the final cake. Just the right amount of chocolate mixed with coffee.
And then I repeated with the next couple layers of cake, finally ending with the chocolate ganache. I melted some white chocolate to write out the message on top, and melted some more regular chocolate for the tennis racket shapes. All in all, I'd say he was pretty pleased with it.
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